Just the though of someone wanting to have a smoke while they are getting surgery is mind blowing. But lets face it the addiction is really that strong and believe it or not there are many people that’s not strong enough to over come it.

Are you a smoker who is scheduled to have surgery? No matter what kind of surgery you are having, your health will suffer if you decide to smoke for several weeks before and after your surgery. As difficult as it is, if you are going to have surgery, you should seriously consider quitting for your health.

Smoking and Surgery: What Can Go Wrong

There are a number of complications, risks, and potential infections that can develop as a result of smoking pre- or post-surgery. What exactly can go wrong? Here’s a run-down on the most common and serious complications that can arise as a result of smoking pre- or post-surgery:

Wound Infection. One of the most common complications that can occur if you smoke is wound infection. Smoking, in effect, steals oxygen from cells that are in the process of healing. Smoking is a risk factor for wound infection in almost any kind of surgery. Researchers have found that smokers continue smoking before surgery are at a much higher risk of developing wounds that do not heal properly.

Cardiopulmonary complications. Tobacco smoke is very hard on the heart, lungs, and the entire immune system. If you are scheduled for any type of heart surgery, it is imperative that you quit smoking for at least six weeks before your surgery.

Vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction refers to the shrinking of the small blood vessels. Many heavy smokers are apt to experience vasoconstriction because smoking steals available oxygen from cells. When this happens, the small blood vessels shrink and the amount of hemoglobin that is needed to move oxygen from one part of the body to another. Smoking also interferes with other chemicals that let the body release enough oxygen to the cells.

Post-surgery complications are greater for smokers. Scientists at Bispebjerg University Hospital in Denmark found that patients who quit smoking before surgery were significantly less likely to develop complications post-surgery. The researchers found that, on average, patients who quit smoking pre-surgery were kept in the hospital two days less than those who kept smoking before their surgery.

Remember, you should strive to come to surgery with a body that is at its healthiest. The trauma of surgery is hard on your body. Smoking will only make it harder for your body to heal. In some cases, surgeons may even elect not to treat a patient if they are smokers.

Smoking Cessation for Surgery

If you’re a smoker, the best thing you can do for your body prepare for surgery is to quit altogether, or at least reduce dramatically the number of cigarettes you smoke each day. Recent research suggests that smokers stop smoking at least six to eight weeks prior to surgery. Unfortunately, many of the smoking cessation products that would normally be available to smokers are not recommended for those heading into surgery. Nicotine gum and nicotine patches are not advised for surgery patients. The nicotine in the gum acts similarly as cigarette nicotine, interfering with the healing process in much the same manner. Nicotine patches are also dangerous because the flow of nicotine can interfere with the flow of blood.

Many hospitals and clinics offer smoking cessation clinics that help surgery patients stop smoking before their scheduled surgery. Here are a few general guidelines on smoking cessation for surgery.

Stop immediately. If you are scheduled for upcoming surgery, you don’t have time to wean yourself off cigarettes. Most doctors advise that you stop smoking as soon as you are told about your surgery. For many people, the health scare is enough to throw the cigarettes out!

Read up on your surgery. Take the time to learn about your surgery. This will help you stay focused on your health, and the importance of keeping your body in good shape for the surgery. While you don’t have to go into detail, become familiar with the procedure.

Speak to your physician about smoking cessation aids you can use. Many times, surgery patients are unable to use such smoking cessation aids as nicotine gum and the nicotine patch. Find out what options are available for your specific case.

Quit together. Find someone to quit with you. Making the commitment to quit with someone else will help keep you focused on staying cigarette-free. Also, you should strive to maintain a smoke-free household during your recovery. Some doctor’s recommend that all household smokers quit or dramatically reduce smoking during the patient’s recovery period.

Smoking facts involving the different aids available for those who seriously want to end their addiction to smoking. Here are four popular aids to quit smoking and help smokers in quitting the bad habit of smoking. Health complications related to smoking are among the top reasons for medical consultations today. Fortunately, there are a lot of medications and counseling or therapy services available to help millions of smokers all over the world to quit the habit of smoking.

For most smokers, taking medications and attending therapy sessions are the typical recommended treatments so they can quit smoking for good. Aside from taking medications, there are a number of helpful aids for quitting smoking that do not include nicotine consumption. The most common of these aids are the self-conditioning therapy, telephone-based therapy, support system from friends and family, as well as the quit programs.

Smoking Aid 1: Self-conditioning Therapy

Lucky for some smokers, they do not need to undergo any treatment or medication to quit smoking for they are able to condition or handle their cravings. Conditioning one’s mind to avoid smoking works if the person is serious in quitting the habit.

Smoking Aids 2: Telephone-based Therapy

As part of the massive campaign for anti-smoking, programs like telephone-based therapy are introduced as aid for the public in their course of retiring from the habit of smoking. In this type of therapy, smokers are given the chance to talk with specialists who are well-trained to conduct counseling with individuals who want to quit smoking. Smokers who adhere in telephone-based therapies are basically given a quit plan that corresponds to their smoking conditions. This program is actually a superb complementary treatment as it gives better results when taken side by side with conventional anti-smoking treatments. Counselors are able to guide smokers in determining the things and situations they should avoid in order to have a successful quitting process.

Smoking Aid 3: Support From Family Members and Friends

It is proven in smoking-related studies that support from family members and friends plays an important role in the speedy process of quitting from the smoking habit. It is essential for support providers to be sincere and understanding enough to the situation of their loved ones who want to refrain from smoking for good. Aside from family and friends, other sources of support are co-workers, therapists, as well as colleagues from quitting programs.

Smoking Aid 4: Quit Programs

Perhaps the best thing about joining quit programs is that a person gets to be around smokers who are also serious about ending their addiction to smoking. Quit smoking programs provide basic smoking facts and guide smokers in coping in the process of quitting from the habit. These programs are also great providers of support and encouragement in refraining from smoking.

One-on-one counseling is claimed to be one of the most effective therapies in quit smoking programs, for it holds strong therapy intensity. Effectiveness of an anti-smoking therapy is based on how intense the programs are. Hence, a greater chance of quitting success for those who undergo intense healing therapies.

On the other hand, smokers should also be wary when choosing stop smoking programs for there are institutions that advertise false benefits. Programs that should be avoided are those who promise instant success once availing their services; those who use pills or other medications as part of their treatments; as well as those that are unwilling to provide references for their services.

The hardest thing for some people to do is to stop smoking. Looking at it from the outside it seems easy but form the smokers view point it’s like a horror movie that never ends.

Whether you are using Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Hypnosis or just Cold Turkey, these strategies and hints are for aiding you to stop smoking and are sure to assist you in helping your neurology change and thus enable you to stop smoking with ease. It is up to you to ensure that you do these things to really enhance what you are doing, the more effort you put into these exercises, the easier it is to stop smoking for good.

Stop Smoking Hint 1.

Being a smoker is like cycling with stabilisers attached to the wheels, you can find it hard to be balanced without smoking. Now, when you cycle freely again, the natural balance returns.

When people smoke, more than half of what they breathe is fresh air – pulled through the cigarette right down into the lungs. So if you feel any cravings you can instantly overcome them by taking three deeper breaths. Imagine breathing from that space just below your belly button. Whenever you do this you put more oxygen into your bloodstream. This means you can use deep breaths to change the way you feel instantly and give you power over the way you feel and help you let go of those old cravings and thus making it easier to stop smoking.

Stop Smoking Hint 2

Next, think now of all the reasons you don’t like smoking, the reasons that it’s bad and the reasons you want to stop smoking. Write down the key words on a piece of paper. For example, you experience breathlessness, it’s dirty, filthy and your clothes smell, your friends and family are concerned and it’s expensive, unsociable and so on. Then, on the other side of the paper, write down all the reasons why you’ll feel good when you’ve succeeded in stopping. You’ll feel healthier, you’ll feel in control of your self, your senses are enhanced, your hair and clothes will smell fresher and so on. Whenever you need to, look at that piece of paper.

Stop Smoking Hint 3

Next, we are going to programme your mind to feel disgusted by cigarettes. I want you ecall 4 times when you thought to yourself “I’ve gotta quit”, or that you felt disgusted about smoking. Maybe you just felt really unhealthy, or your doctor told you in a particular tone of voice ‘You’ve got to quit’ or somebody you know was badly affected by smoking. Take a moment now to come up with 4 different times that you felt that you have to quit or were disgusted by smoking.

Remember each of those times, one after another, as though they are happening now. I want you to keep going through those memories and make them as vivid as possible. The more vivid you make those memories, the easier it will be to stop smoking. See what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how you felt. I want you to take a few minutes now to keep going through those memories again and again, overlap each memory with the next until you are totally and utterly disgusted by cigarettes.

Stop Smoking Hint 4

Have a think to yourself about the consequences of you not stopping smoking now, if you just carry on and on. Imagine it, what will happen if you carry on smoking. What are the consequences? Imagine yourself in 6 months time, a years time, even 5 years time if you do not stop smoking now. Think of all the detrimental effects of not stopping right now and how a simple decision you make today can make such an impact on your future.

Next, imagine how much better is your life going to be when you stop smoking. Really imagine it’s months from now and you successfully stopped. Smoking is a thing of the past, something you used to do. Keep that feeling with you and imagine having it tomorrow, and for the rest of next week. In your mind, imagine stepping in to that non-smoking version of you and feel how it feels to be a non-smoker.

Stop Smoking Hint 5

Also, your mind is very sensitive to associations, so it’s very important that you have a clear out and remove all tobacco products from your environment. Move some of the furniture in your house and at work. Smokers are accustomed to smoking in certain situations. So, for example, if you used to smoke on the telephone at work move the phone to the other side of the desk. Throw away ashtrays, old lighters and anything that you used to associate with smoking. Make your environment conducive to stopping smoking.

Stop Smoking Hint 6

Smokers sometimes use their habit to give themselves little breaks during the day. Taking a break is good for you, so carry on taking that time off – but do something different. Walk round the block, have a cup of tea or drink of water, or do some of the techniques on this programme. In fact, if possible drink a lot of fruit juice. When you stop smoking the body goes through a big change. The blood sugar levels tend to fall, the digestion is slowed down and your body starts to eject the tar and poisons that have accumulated. Fresh fruit juice contains fructose which restores your blood sugar levels, vitamin C which helps clear out impurities and high levels of water and fibre to keep your digestion going. Also try to eat fruit every day for at least two weeks after you have stopped.

Also when you stop, cut your caffeine intake by half. Nicotine breaks down caffeine so without nicotine a little coffee will have a big effect. Drink 8-10 glasses of water (ideally bottled) to help wash out your system.

Stop Smoking Hint 7

You were used to using cigarettes to signal to your body to release happy chemicals, so next we are going to programme some good feelings into your future. Allow yourself to fully remember now a time when you felt very deep ecstasy, pleasure or bliss, right now. Take a moment to recall it as vividly as possible. Remember that time – see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel how good you felt. Where abouts in your body were those feelings, imagine turning them up and spreading them through your body to make them more intense.

Keep going through the memory, as soon as it finishes, go through it again and again, all the time squeezing your thumb and finger together. In your mind, make those images big and bright, sounds loud and harmonious and feelings strong and intensified. We are making an associational link between the squeeze of your fingers and that good feeling.

Okay, stop and relax. Now if you have done that correctly when you squeeze your thumb and finger together you should feel that good feeling again. Go ahead do that now, squeeze thumb and finger and remember that good feeling.

Now we’re going to programme good feelings to happen automatically whenever you are in a situation where you used to smoke but now you stop smoking.

So, next I’d like you to squeeze your thumb and finger together, get that good feeling going and now imagine being in several situations where you would have smoked, but being there feeling great without a cigarette. See what you’ll see hear and take that good feeling into those situations without a need for a cigarette.

Imagine being in a situation where someone offers you a cigarette and you confidently say ‘No thanks, I don’t smoke’. And feel fantastic about it!

Stop Smoking Hint 8

Get social support. Your commitment to stopping smoking for the rest of your life can be made much easier by talking about it to friends and family and letting them support you. They will congratulate you on doing so well too! You really did stop smoking.

Stop Smoking Hint 9

Be aware of making excuses for yourself. Some people talk themselves into smoking, especially if they encounter a stressful situation and in the past they used to deal with it by smoking. If those old thoughts pop into your head, shout the word “STOP” in your head, to stop the thoughts from progressing. Nicotine just stresses your body more and is like that itch that can never be properly scratched; the more you smoke, the more you have to. So say “STOP” and steer clear of old slippery slopes.

Stop Smoking Hint 10

Reward yourself. Congratulate yourself. Feel how good it feels to stop smoking and be a non-smoker. Treat yourself each time you get past a certain milestone; the first week or first month, the six month target. Let yourself know that you did something really special here.

Keep on using your brain, stretching it and helping your self, by running through these exercises time after time; you are sure to be able to make it easier and easier and successfully stop smoking for good.

Smoking has caused damages to many of people. If you don’t believe me look at the statistics they don’t lie. It’s important especially if you are a smoker, that you take a minute in evaluate your situation about how you are going to live the rest of your life.

Several company were developed by a group of doctors and health professionals to provide health and wellness information to anyone with an Internet connection. These companies pull no punches when they talk about the deadly dangers of smoking.

The globally recognized, free web-based health advocate says, “Smoking’s damage is swift and irreversible.” As with many lifestyle choices, there are far-reaching effects.

Smoking used to be glamorized in Hollywood movies and television programs of the 1950s and 1960s. Commercial advertising of cigarettes was allowed, and made a lot of money for the tobacco industry.

In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers in the United States and elsewhere around the world began to understand the very real and very long-lasting negative effects smoking has on the human body and mind. For instance, did you know that …

In a young person who smokes for the very first time, even someone who has never had exposure to secondhand smoke, a single cigarette stiffens the arteries by 25%, making the heart work harder.

The damage may be even more significant than that. Researcher Stella Daskalopoulou, MD, of the McGill University Health Centre in the United States, points out that “… cigarette smoking starts inflicting very significant damage on the arteries with the very first puffs taken by otherwise healthy young smokers.” Aside from the heart, significant pressure and stress is placed on the lungs by smoking tobacco products.

Wherever people smoke, anywhere from 75% to over 90% of lung cancer is due to cigarette smoking. This begs the question … can a person’s lungs recover from the damage done by smoking, or is this a permanent condition?

Some Lung Damage from Smoking Is Permanent, and Irreversible

The sad truth is that even minimal smoking causes permanent damage to the lungs. This is not to say you shouldn’t quit smoking immediately if you smoke right now, since significant recovery in parts of the lungs and other areas of the body begins to take place immediately upon the cessation of smoking tobacco products.

What happens in the lungs is that smoking destroys cilia, tiny hairs that protect your lungs against infection. Cilia are easy to kill off, and tobacco smoke does an especially good job at eradicating this natural filtering system from your lungs.

When you stop smoking, any functioning cilia will return to its naturally healthy abilities. However, cilia you have destroyed will never regrow or be replaced. Also, smoking permanently damages the air sacs in the lungs, elevating the risk of developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) like chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

The more you smoke, the more damage you do to your lungs, your heart and your entire body. There is not an organ in your body that is not negatively affected by tobacco smoke. Do whatever you can to stop smoking today.

Studies show that 10 to 15 years after quitting, your risk of developing lung cancer is equal to that of a person who has never smoked, even if you have smoked significantly in the past. Just remember that every puff you take does some irreversible damage to your lungs, and that is something you cannot repair, you can only prevent.

Smoking delivers a big bang in the long run and you start to have major problems with your skin. No addictive smoker wants to here what you are saying until its to late an the skin problems become fatal. If the ill effects of smoking were obvious on your face every time you looked in the mirror, would you smoke? If after every cigarette you smoked you could see fine lines, wrinkles and red capillaries developing on your face, would you still continue to smoke?

Perhaps if the signs were noticeably visible immediately, nobody would. Perhaps people would think twice about lighting up or buying another packet. Although the results are not immediately apparent, the effects on the skin are cumulative and lifelong.

Your skin is the largest organ of your body and smoking cigarettes negatively affect its health. Here are a few of the side effects of smoking and your skin.

Blood Vessels Not Delivering Oxygen – Result Poor Skin Health

Smoking causes the blood vessels to become thinner which means a reduced volume of blood can flow through them. Additionally, nutrients and oxygen levels in the blood are also lower. These factors greatly impact skin health.

A smoker’s body suffers from poor circulation and a decreased amount of oxygen in the blood. Oxygen and other blood-borne nutrients are essential for maintaining cellular health in the whole body, including the skin.

A smoker is more prone to suffer from poor wound healing. This is due to poor blood circulation and a lack of oxygen required for the skin healing process.

The skin tone may appear paler or grayish. Poor skin health becomes obvious as facial wrinkles and other signs of premature aging develop. Wrinkles or cigarette lines can be seen around a smoker’s mouth and is caused by the constant pursing of the lips.
Wrinkles and Signs of Premature Aging

Although excess sun exposure is known to be one of the biggest contributors to skin aging, cigarette smoking is another huge contributing factor. Research reveals that smoking causes the skin to age faster than exposure to sunlight.

One sign of skin aging is the presence of wrinkles. Wrinkling occurs as a result of damaged skin components that include elastin and collagen.

Numerous studies provide evidence which proves that heavy smokers have more wrinkles than those people who smoke occasionally or not at all.

A very telling study was conducted in which participants were asked to judge the age of individuals who were smokers and non-smokers just by looking at their photographs. The results showed that smokers were usually judged older than their actual age, and non-smokers were often judged younger than their real age.

Changes in Skin Tissue Composition

Smoking can lead to rapid changes in the composition of the skin’s tissues. A study showed that smokers face a higher risk of suffering from elastosis which refers to a condition in which the elasticity of the skin is lost due to rapid degeneration of the skin’s connective tissues.

Through computer-assisted analysis, experts were also able to confirm that elastosis among smokers is greater and more severe, compared to the level of elastosis among non-smokers.

In addition, smokers are also more likely to experience telangiectasia. This condition is characterized by fine red lines which occurs when the small blood vessels of the skin dilate.

The likelihood of having elastosis or telangiectasia increases in line with the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Smoking has done more damage to family’s and people then anything you can imagine that was destructive in our history. In the show is still allowed to go on. In this day and age, we don’t have to be told smoking is bad for us. We know it does terrible things to our body’s organs and overall health. Yet people still smoke. Unfortunately, it is an addictive habit that not only affects our body’s organs but also our brain. Here’s how it does.

Causes Addiction

Tobacco is known for its addictive substance called nicotine. Once nicotine is inhaled it only takes 8 seconds to reach the brain. Consequently, it engages our brain’s receptors, and activates certain areas of the brain.

The result provides feelings of reward and pleasure, which is why the smoker ‘gets hooked’ on smoking, and so the vicious cycle begins.

As the smoker’s habit develops, the brain begins to develop a resistance to the nicotine and the number of receptors are reduced. The smoker then needs to increase their nicotine intake to make up for the decreasing effects.

The smoker will then (usually unconsciously) keep increasing the number of cigarettes they smoke each day to be able to experience the same level of pleasurable feeling they know they can get through smoking.

This is the reason why smokers who start out just smoking a couple a day, end up smoking a packet a day. At the same time, the smoker may consciously select stronger cigarettes to achieve the same result.

Reduced Feel Good Receptors

Smoking increases a person’s risk of suffering from depression and other mental health problems due to a reduction of their ‘feel good’ hormones in the brain.

This occurs because the artificial stimulation in the brain caused by the nicotine molecules – that are acting like neurotransmitters – lead to the long-term reduction of these receptors in certain parts of the brain.

IQ Levels Affected

According to a study which had 20,000 young adults as participants, the more a person smoked, the lower their IQ became. The study showed that smokers aged between 18 and 21 years of age were found to have an IQ average of 94, while the non-smokers belonging to the same age group had an average IQ of 101.

The study included siblings, and the researchers found that the non-smokers had higher IQ scores compared to their siblings who smoked.

Lowers Concentration

Many smokers will tell you that smoking helps them concentrate, and tend to smoke one cigarette after another whenever they are doing something that needs their full focus and attention.

However, studies prove otherwise. Experts have found that the reduced supply of oxygen to the brain, caused by the narrowing of the arteries, makes it harder to concentrate.

This habit doesn’t increase their concentration at all. It only causes fatigue, fidgeting and restlessness – all because of the reduction in oxygenated blood to the brain. Again, the vicious cycle starts, as to compensate for their fatigue and lack of focus, they light up another cigarette.

Any perceived “nicotine hit” will be very temporary, however the negative health impacts will be long-lasting.

Reduced Brain Volume

Another way smoking affects your brain health is it reduces brain volume. Studies show that smokers are more likely to reduce their hippocampus and overall brain volume at a rate faster than non-smokers. This is one of the reasons why smokers experience premature cognitive decline.